Word: civilian
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...several so-called papabili (Italian for "Popables"). Castrillon Hoyos speaks several languages and possesses an attractive combination of real-world pastoral experience and inside-the-Vatican bureaucratic savvy. In 1999, his compatriot Gabriel Garcia Marquez sang his praises in print, recalling how the Cardinal had dressed as a civilian to meet with drug lord Pablo Escobar, and explicitly calling Castrillon Hoyos a contender. The article, in the eyes of some, raised Castrillon Hoyos' profile a bit too high...
...number of worrying incidents elsewhere. A policeman was reported killed and another wounded while in a shopping mall in the capital, Skopje, on Wednesday. And two Albanians were shot this morning by police at a checkpoint in Tetovo. Apparently there's videotape of one of the men, in civilian clothing, throwing a grenade at policemen. That tape may be very important, because unless the government can show that there was a grenade, the incident may spread alarm in the Albanian community. Also, it could put more strain on the main Albanian party in the government, which has vowed to withdraw...
...government's cease-fire expires at midnight. The village of Shipkovice was shelled while we were there. It has been reported that NATO had flown drones over the area and shared the intelligence photographs with the Macedonians. Yet the Macedonians still ended up shelling a village packed with civilians. Luckily, no one was killed there, although there were one or two civilian casualties in other villages. We found ourselves in the basement of a house with 30 people, many of them children. Upstairs, one of the walls was destroyed by the shelling. It was miraculous that nobody was killed...
...When we left, everyone was hunkered down in basements again, waiting for more shelling. The purported aim of the cease-fire was to allow civilians to leave the area, but they are not going, at least not yet. If the shelling resumes overnight or tomorrow morning, there odds are very high that there will be civilian casualties - and that will cause a serious escalation in this conflict...
...coming weeks, then, much will depend on the choices made by Macedonia?s Albanian leaders. The mainstream parties have urged the rebels to lay down their weapons, but they have also warned that they cannot support a government counter-offensive which results in civilian casualties. But if the confrontation continues to escalate, their relationship with the government in Skopje may become untenable. If the rebels find enough support among ordinary Albanians in Macedonia to extend their insurgency beyond Tetovo and its surrounds, civil war will have become a reality. And that would inevitably force NATO, against all its instincts...